9/9/2019 Siemens Documentation: Creating Joints

Creating Joints

Creating joints is the second stage in defining kinematics for a component. A joint connects two links. There are two types of joints:
Revolving joint: Rotates around an axis.
Prismatic joint: Moves linearly along an axis.
Several links can be connected together independently of other links by a parent joint so that when the parent joint moves it affects the movement of all the links it connects. This is
called a closed loop. The Kinematics Editor is programmed to recognize a closed loop and move it as a single unit.

Note Create Joint in the Kinematics Editor toolbar is disabled until two links are created and selected.

To create joints:
1. Select one link in the Kinematics Editor and select a second link while holding down the <Ctrl> key. Create Joint is enabled.

Note The order in which the links are selected determines the parent/child hierarchy. The first link selected is the parent link, and the second link selected is the child link.

2. In the Kinematics Editor, click . An arrow with the default name j1 is displayed between the two selected links in the Kinematics Editor, and the Joint Properties dialog is
displayed:

3. In the Name field, enter a name for the joint. By default, the first joint created for each component is named j1.
4. Create an axis for the joint by defining its two endpoints, as follows:
Click From and specify the location of one endpoint of the axis in one of the following ways:

Click a location in the Graphic Viewer (the cursor changes to when selecting points in the Graphic Viewer).
Click in the required X-, Y-, or Z-coordinate field and specify the location using the up and down arrows.
Click in the required X-, Y-, or Z-coordinate field and manually enter a location.
The first endpoint of the axis is created and displayed in the Graphic Viewer.

Note Set the Pick Intent carefully when selecting joint axis points in the Graphic Viewer. By default, Snap is selected as the Pick Intent when defining kinematics. When
selecting endpoints, it is recommended to use the and Visibility features in order to see location points better in the Graphic Viewer.

Click To and specify the location of the other endpoint of the axis in one of the following ways:

Click a location in the Graphic Viewer (The cursor changes to when selecting points in the Graphic Viewer.)
Click in the field of the required coordinate and specify the exact position of that coordinate by using the up and down arrows displayed.
Click in the field of the required coordinate and manually enter the position of that coordinate.
The second endpoint of the axis is created and displayed in the Graphic Viewer.

Note The positive direction is from the first point to the second.

5. If you wish to configure the joint to be locked, check Lock joint. You can jog the locked joint directly using the Joint Jog dialog but it remains at its current joint value when
calculating inverse kinematics.
6. From the Joint type dropdown list, define the type of joint by selecting either Revolute or Prismatic, as follows:
Revolute: Rotates the joint around the specified axis.
Prismatic: Moves the joint linearly along the specified axis.

7. To specify further details for the joint, click Expand . The Joint Properties dialog is expanded, as shown below:

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8. To specify movement limits for the joint, select Constant from the Limits type dropdown list and enter high and low limits in the High limit and Low limit fields. You specify the
units and ranges in the of the Options Dialog.

Prismatic joint range: -999999 mm to 999999 mm

High
Revolute joint range: -999999 deg to 999999 deg
Prismatic joint range: -999999 mm to 999999 mm
Low
Revolute joint range: -999999 deg to 999999 deg

If you select No limits from the Limits dropdown list, no motion limits are specified and the joint can either revolve continuously around the selected axis, or continuously move
back and forth linearly along the selected axis.

If you select Variable from the Limits dropdown list, you can limit the motion range of the leading and following joints by setting their variable limits. Click to open the
Variable Joint Values screen.

Click to set/edit the representation/color of the points and the lines of the graph as well as the graph area itself.

Note When Revolute is selected as the joint type, the limit values are displayed in degrees. When Prismatic is selected as the joint type, the limit values are displayed in
millimeters. To view the limits specified in the Graphic Viewer, the Limit check checkbox must be selected in the Motion Tab of the Options dialog.

9. In the Speed field: enter a value in the range of 0.001 mm to 999999 mm for prismatic joints, and 0.001 deg to 999999 deg for revolute joints.
10. In the Acceleration field, enter a value for the acceleration of the joint in the range of 0.001 mm^2 to 999999 mm^2 for prismatic joints, and 0.001 deg^2 to 999999 deg^2 for
revolute joints.

Note Distance is changed according to linear/angular units in the Options (Units tab), and time is always in seconds for speed and sec^2 for acceleration.

11. Click OK. The joint is created and displayed as an arrow, starting at the parent link and ending at the child link in the Kinematics Editor.

Note
You can reverse the direction of a selected joint by clicking in the Kinematics Editor. If you want to see to see the joint move as specified, select Joint Jog. Refer to
Joint Jog, for more details.

12. Create as many joints as required by repeating steps 2 through 10 until all the links of the component have been connected with joints.

Note
You can delete a joint by selecting the required joint and clicking in the Kinematics Editor.

After links and joints have been defined and created for the component, it becomes a device. You can now add a baseframe and a toolframe to the device, as described in Adding
Baseframes and Adding Toolframes.

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Note When you select a device, either in the Graphic Viewer or the Object Tree, other commands applicable only to devices and robots are enabled.

© 2017 Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc.

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